By Johnathan Paoli
The country’s prepaid electricity users have been scrambling to upgrade their meter boxes before the midnight deadline to avoid being plunged into darkness.
Despite initial insistence by Eskom and the Energy Ministry that no extensions would be granted, the utility has announced a reprieve for “zero buyers” for those who have consumed electricity without recent purchases, allowing them to update their meters beyond the stipulated cut off.
This last-minute extension follows weeks of confusion, long queues and public outcry over inadequate communication and insufficient resources to address the scale of the required updates.
The update is mandated by the Standard Transfer Specifications Association to address the Token Identifier system embedded in prepaid meters, with the system set to run out of range, rendering meters unable to accept new electricity tokens unless upgraded to Key Revision Number 2.
While Eskom began preparations more than a year ago, the process has been fraught with logistical challenges, with the utility relying on customers to manually enter two 20-digit codes into their meters, a process that has proven overwhelming for both users and the system.
In areas like Diepkloof, Soweto, hundreds of residents waited for hours, with some overnight, desperate to update their meters.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa visited the area on Saturday, promising to keep service centres open until everyone had been assisted.
However, many residents complained of a lack of clear communication and limited access to authorised vendors, which compounded their frustrations.
Ramokgopa acknowledged the government’s role in ensuring smoother transitions and promised to better.
“We underestimated the scale of outreach needed and will ensure future projects are managed with greater efficiency and transparency,” he said.
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena announced that the utility had achieved a “technical breakthrough,” enabling “zero buyers” to pre-create Key Change Tokens (KCTs) through its online vending system, allowing them to upgrade their meters even after the Sunday deadline.
“The meter itself will expire if not upgraded, but zero buyers with active meters have been granted an extension,” Mokwena said.
She said customers must visit authorised vending sites, purchase electricity and obtain the KCTs to trigger the upgrade.
City Power, which serves Johannesburg, said most of its customers had completed the required updates.
Spokesperson Isaac Mangena noted that over 99% of the city’s prepaid meters were compliant, with a few cases in areas like Alexandra still pending.
However, Mangena urged sectional title property owners to ensure that individual unit meters are upgraded, clarifying that the responsibility lies with property owners, not body corporates.
Eskom warned that customers who missed the deadline might face a hefty fee of R12,000 for meter replacements.
The power utility has reiterated that zero buyers and those with damaged or bypassed meters should visit legal vending sites to obtain their KCTs, and that customers who purchase tokens before the cut off could still complete the conversion process at Eskom offices from Monday onward.
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